


Entity

by Aki (Akiko_Natsuko)



Category: K (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Betrayal, Blood and Injury, Blood and Violence, Broken Promises, Death, Friendship/Love, Heavy Angst, Loss of Control, M/M, Nightmares, Possession, Promises, Secrets
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-09
Updated: 2018-11-09
Packaged: 2019-08-20 09:50:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16553510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akiko_Natsuko/pseuds/Aki
Summary: For the first time in its long existence it felt true fear. In its weakened state it would be unable to linger for long in this world, as much as it had hated the slates which had been its prison for so long, they had given it form. Now, it could feel itself waving, its very being threatening to come apart with nothing physical to tie it to the world and frantically it stretched out, searching for a vessel.





	Entity

_For the first time in its long existence it felt true fear. In its weakened state it would be unable to linger for long in this world, as much as it had hated the slates which had been its prison for so long, they had given it form. Now, it could feel itself waving, its very being threatening to come apart with nothing physical to tie it to the world and frantically it stretched out, searching for a vessel. Not an inanimate object this time, it refused to trap itself again, no this time it would take a human vessel, one that it could mould to its own purpose._

_It swirled, probing at those in the chamber, searching for a suitable vessel. However, the Silver King and his clansman still retained enough protection from the fading sanctum that its efforts to reach them were rebuffed, and whilst with time it was certain it could have overcome the barrier, time was not something it had. Furious, it shifted course, feeling parts of itself already fading away as it darted towards the one who had started all of this, but the moment it reached for the Green King it could feel the life draining from him. It could save him. It could patch up the wound that its power had filled over the years, it could keep him alive, but that would leave it even weaker, too weak perhaps to exert the control it needed…and it refused to even consider the bird that was fluttering anxiously above them._

_There had to be someone else._

**

    Yata had been moving again the moment he had been sure that he had completed their part of the plan, resolutely not thinking about just how close it had been. If he had been a second later… he shook his head, pressing his foot harder against the ground as he felt the entire base shuddering under the force of the battle raging beneath his feet, and the power flooding the air had the hairs on his arms standing upright. That wasn’t a fight he wanted any part of, and as a chunk of the ceiling gave way ahead he sped up, not sure that the water plant was going to survive what was to come and having no interest in buried alive in this place.

    He had managed to climb to the next level when he was flung off his skateboard as the entire world rocked violently, as though something large had hit the ground, and the power radiating from below was reaching a crescendo now leaving it difficult to breathe. Caught off guard, he was unable to do anything to stop his fall, skidding across the ground, grazing his arms as he flung them out to stop himself from colliding with the wall. He came to a halt in a tangled heap, skateboard lying on its back beside him, wheels spinning, and he groaned as he rolled onto his back, trying to catch his breath as he stared at the ceiling.

_It’s fading…_

    His red. Anna’s red. It was still there for now, a gentle humming that ran through his veins, but already he could tell that it was dimmed and more seemed to disappear with each breath he took, and he found himself closing his eyes, clinging to the sensation. They’d all known that was going to be the cost of their success even if they hadn’t really talked about it, but that didn’t mean that he was ready for the reality of it and his eyes stung fiercely as somewhere far above he felt his King’s sword fading from existence.

     It was tempting to just lie there and cling to the fading tendrils of his power, however, he knew that Anna would never forgive him if he gave up just like that. Besides, he needed to make sure that Saruhiko had made it out okay. He’d had no choice but to leave him behind. Anna had needed him. _Will she still need me now?_ He hadn’t let himself think about what would happen once the Slates were gone, but now he couldn’t stave off the thoughts. Would HOMRA survive? Or would they end up going their separate ways as they had in the aftermath of Mikoto’s death, he shivered at the thought of it, remembering the loneliness he had felt in those moments where his grief had faded enough to let him feel anything.

No. He couldn’t think about that now.

   He was already pulling himself to his feet, hissing as he realised that he had caught more than his arms in the tumble when the base shook again and he barely managed to stay upright, ducking his head instinctively when the ceiling above him creaked ominously and showered him with dust. _What the hell is going on?_ He didn’t have time to stand there and ponder he realised as the base shook again, more violently this time, and now he could hear the distinctive booms of explosions in the distance and he cursed under his breath as he realised that someone was blowing it up around their ears.

    Flipping his board so that it was the right way up, he sprang onto it, using the last little bit of his flames to propel himself forwards just as the ceiling began to crumble. Swallowing he glanced behind him as rubble crashed down in the spot where he had been seconds before. _Too close._ He was aching, feeling the effects of his tumble and the fight with Sukuna earlier, but he didn’t slow down, tearing down the corridor and praying that he wouldn’t encounter anymore JUNGLE members.

    The rumbling was constant when he sped around the corner a few minutes later, relief flooding him when he spotted the familiar figure of Kusanagi up ahead.

“Kusanagi-san, let’s get out of here!” There was no doubt in his mind that the plant was crashing down around their ears, and he just hoped that the path to the surface was still clear, otherwise they were going to be screwed and he couldn’t help but think he’d already used up too much luck today. Still, he slowed his pace to match that of the older man, refusing to leave anyone else behind and shooting him a glare when Kusanagi half-heartedly suggested that he go on ahead before growling at him. “Not happening.”

    Another explosion rippled through the plant, and the wall ahead of them collapsed inwards forcing them both to dive for the opposite side of the corridor, Yata’s skateboard skidding off to the side as he landed. He was about to grab it again when a strange feeling swept over him. It was almost as though something had collided with him, forcing the air from his lungs and sending him reeling and yet when he looked there was nothing there, and yet the feeling persisted. It was making it impossible for him to catch his breath, a tightness forming in his chest and it felt like someone had driven ice deep into his body, and he whimpered. The cold was burning him, but it was nothing like the burn of his flames, instead it cut deep, consuming him and he staggered, legs threatening to give way as he frantically tried to summon up a spark of red to combat the sensation.

 “Yata?”  Kusanagi must have caught the soft whimper even over the racket around them because he was turning towards him, and Yata saw his eyes widening, alarm spreading across his face and he wondered what he must look like to earn an expression like that from the usually unflappable man.  “YATA?!”

    He wanted to reply, he needed to reply, but his voice wouldn’t respond. Nothing was responding anymore, numbness chasing the blazing trail of ice, and whilst a moment ago he would have welcomed it, there was something about the lack of sensation and the shadows following in its wake that terrified him. Frantically he tried to fight it. Anna. Saru. Kusanagi. HOMRA. He needed to stay awake, he needed to make sure they were okay. He… it wasn’t enough, and his red, what little remained wasn’t responded and even as he watched Kusanagi rushing towards him, mouth moving as though he was still shouting to him, he felt his knees give way. He knew that he was falling, and yet he couldn’t feel it. He couldn’t feel anything. See anything. But the wrongness, the feeling that something was there that didn’t belong persisted even as he lost his tenuous grip on consciousness.

****

_It had forgotten what it felt like to have a body that wasn’t built of stone. However, it didn’t have the chance to appreciate the sensation because the human was fighting him, weak sparks of red dancing over it, even though the human should have been unaware of its presence. Was it because the boy had been part of a sanctum? Possibly, or had its approach been for forceful than intended as desperation had overcome it?_

_It was probably the latter, it admitted to itself reluctantly. It had taken longer than expected to find its way through the base to find its target, and it had been fading, losing more and more of itself with each second and it knew that it was lucky to have lasted long enough to reach its goal. Still, the resistance was unexpected and whilst the human was losing the fight, it couldn’t say that it was winning, feeling itself being dragged down with the human as the boy lost consciousness. Still even as it slipped under the surface, it felt a flicker of triumph._

_It had survived._

****

    Yata couldn’t remember it ever being this difficult to wake up, and yet today it felt as though every time his fingers brushed against the light he was straining towards, something would coil around him, threatening to suffocate him and drag him back under. Normally he would have fought it with everything he had, just out of sheer stubbornness, but right now it was tempting to just surrender, to stop fighting and let it pull him back under. He was tired, more tired than he could ever remember being and he was cold. Not the kind of cold that would have him huddling in his sweater, but a deep chill that seemed to have seeped into every inch of his body, wrapping itself around him to the point where he could no longer feel HOMRA’s flame.

_No._

    He frowned, something tugging at the edge of his consciousness. That wasn’t right, it wasn’t the cold that was stopping him from accessing his Red, it was… _fury, burning incandescent rage swept through him, consuming him…_ and then he gasped, and the anger was gone, almost as though it had never existed. The surge left him shaken, because that rage hadn’t belonged to him. He might not have wanted to surrender their Red, he would mourn its loss, but he wasn’t angry about it. It had been Anna’s decision, and he supported it. So where had that anger come from?

    However, now that his thoughts had turned towards Anna. Towards his King, he couldn’t let himself be pulled under again even as a fresh wave of exhaustion washed over him. Now that he thought about it he realised that he had no idea what had happened to trap him in this strange state, his memories distorted and blurry after he’d seen Kusanagi in the tunnel, and not knowing what had happened left him uneasy. If something had happened to him, it stood to reason that the rest of HOMRA could have been caught in it too. There were too many unknowns, too many people that he was worrying about and with renewed determination he tried to reach for the light again, fuelled most by his need to see his King, even if she wasn’t his King anymore.

    Even with that motivation, it was still an exhausting fight to coax his eyes open, and he had barely caught a glimpse of the strange, white ceiling above him before he felt them closing again. Nothing he did would stall them, and defeat washed over him.

“Misaki?” An urgent voice called, and he felt a hand against his cheek, tapping lightly and trying to get him to open his eyes again. He tried to reply, hearing the concern in that voice even though his increasingly fuzzy mind was unable to recognise who it belonged to, but his tongue was weighed down with exhaustion and his eyelids were like lead weights now and before he knew it he was gone again.

**

   Fushimi winced as he manged to catch his leg with the crutches for a second time as he wrestled with the door, not for the first time tempted to just abandon them and hobble on his own. He couldn’t wait until he was allowed to get rid of the blasted things, but as they were the only reason he was being allowed to move around unsupervised he was resisting the temptation…well that and the fact that Awashima had threatened to triple the amount of paperwork he would have waiting for him if she caught him without them again. It hadn’t been an idle threat, he’d seen it in her eyes even though she had been worryingly gentle around him the last few days, and he’d decided it wasn’t worth the risk, even if that did leave him here struggling with a door of all things.

    He was more relieved than he would ever admit when there was movement on the other side of the door, and someone pulled it open for him. At least until he lifted his head and found himself face to face with Kusanagi, and he had to fight not to look away. Despite everything that had happened, things between them weren’t as awkward as he had expected them to be, which made him feel twice as awkward, and he shifted nervously, fingers tightening on his crutches, unsure of what to say and already regretting coming, even though he had been stopping by several times a day for the last few days.

“Fushimi.” Kusanagi was the first to break the silence, stepping back to give him room to enter and even managing an encouraging nod when the Blue hesitated for a moment longer. Hobbling inside, Fushimi realised why he had been speaking so quietly as he spied Anna curled up in one of the chairs sat beside the bed in the middle of the room. She was fast asleep, but even now she looked stressed and tired and far older than her age. Not that Kusanagi looked much better, and Fushimi had a feeling that if he looked in the mirror he would find that he was in a similar state, which was why he had hadn’t looked, and slowly his gaze drifted to the bed and the reason for their current condition.

    He couldn’t stop his expression from darkening as he studied Misaki, dismayed to see that he didn’t seem to have moved at all. _Four days,_ his knuckles were turning white now as he clutched the crutches tightly, trying to swallow back his disappointment. His worry. His fear. It had been four days with little to no change in the vanguard’s condition, and no sign of answers from the doctors who were just as baffled by what had happened as they were.

“He woke up briefly earlier,” Kusanagi murmured, glancing at Anna when she stirred with a soft murmur, reaching out in her sleep until her fingers brushed against Yata’s hand which she had been clinging to earlier, before settling once more. When he glanced back at Fushimi, he winced a little at the hope in the Blue’s eyes before it was masked. It reminded him too much of how excited Anna had been for a moment when Yata had first started to stir, hoping that he was starting to come back to them, and he hesitated for a moment, before deciding that it was better to be honest considering they still didn’t know what was wrong with Yata. “He wasn’t fully awake though, and he slipped under again before we could do anything.” Seeing Yata’s eyes closing again had devastated Anna, and he honestly couldn’t say he’d been much better and he took a deep breath. “However, the doctors seem to think its an encouraging sign.”

“What does that even mean?” Fushimi muttered, unknowingly echoing Kusanagi’s private thoughts as he hobbled closer to the bed, studying Misaki with a frown. He didn’t like uncertainty, and thus far that was all they had. Misaki wasn’t injured, at least nothing beyond the cuts and grazes that had come from the fights and dash to escape, and Kusanagi had been adamant that he had seemed fine just before he’d collapsed. He wanted answers. It didn’t sit well with him that Misaki had given him an answer he hadn’t even known he was looking for, whilst he was forced to sit by and watch as others tried and failed to find an answer for the vanguard.

“I don’t know,” Kusanagi replied, sounding more frustrated than Fushimi could ever remember him being and looking at him now, he could see the strain in his face.  It was the same strain he could see in all their faces, the loss of the sanctums hitting them all hard, although the alternative would’ve been far worse. However, he knew that it was more than that. As hard as it had been for him to accept back then, he knew that Misaki belonged with HOMRA, and he knew that the feeling was more than reciprocated. It was there in the way that Anna had refused to leave his side since he’d been brought to the hospital, and in the subdued clan members he’d seen in the waiting room, and it was there in the way Kusanagi’s gaze would flicker to the vanguard every few seconds clearly hoping for some sign of change, and it was there in the desperate edge to his voice as he added quietly.  “I’m just hoping that it means he’ll come back soon.”

 

 


End file.
